Dyn walked down the hallway of his workpce, barking orders at any employee he found away from a computer as he did whenever he didn’t have anything better to do. Then again, it’s not like he did any of his work when he was supposed to, either.

  He was just about to go yell at some workers for being on their break when he felt something brush against his shoulder, sending a shiver down his spine at the sudden contact.

  His head snapped down as he took a step back, scowling as he turned to see the person who he'd bumped into.

  A woman. How typical. He was about to start shouting when she turned around to look at him. His gss-covered eyes caught grey ones, feeling his breath hitch merely at the sight of her.

  She was gorgeous.

  "You alright?" She asked after turning back to face him, reaching a hand out to Dyn’s shoulder. He should have felt disgusted that a lesser was touching him, but his still stern expression held no anger behind it.

  "I'm fine," He scoffed, quickly spping her hand away. He felt his heart speed up a bit as their skin touched again, but he had no time to spare for that. "I don’t recall seeing you around here. State your name." He demanded, keeping his tone banced despite the hint of curiosity.

  The woman blinked, quickly withdrawing her hand back. After taking a moment to get over the hostility, she expined "I'm, it’s… Cir."

  Dyn nodded. "Well. Go back to your job. You're getting written up for this. And don't compin- unless you'd like to be fired too, pest."

  He walked away, dusting his shirt off as he left the woman behind him standing there, confused. How pathetic, he thought to himself, too bad that such a beauty wasn't royalty like him. It's a shame, she might have had a chance to be his bride one day.

  Yet, he couldn’t shake off the weird feeling he had after the interaction. He never found interest in anyone he considered lower than him, but she was… different.

  She didn’t look like those other beggarly girls. She was tall, she was dapper, she was professional, and she was perfect.

  Pausing in his step, he immediately jolted around to look for the woman, but she was already gone. "Cir, huh," He muttered to himself, a wicked grin taking over his features.

  "Interesting."

  Cir hummed as she set down the pte in her hand on the table in front of her, looking perplexed. She felt like she was on autopilot mode whenever she thought of that day, still making up ‘what if’ scenarios in her head like some emo teenager. If it was her choice, she would spend nights and days repying it in her head; but, as distant as her partner might act sometimes, he was sure as hell observant.

  As if right on que, she felt a rough hand pced on her shoulder.

  "Hello, Cir," Mavik greeted, gazing down at the table made for three. "I appreciate the food. Tomorrow’s on me.”

  Cir forced a smile, trying to stay positive. All she could think about was that he said that st time, too.

  "Right. I didn’t want to wake you up, but don’t worry about it.”

  Mavik rarely had time to cook those days, so Cir tried to help with what she could. It felt a bit strange, standing in a kitchen doing this kind of work, when she liked to think the roles were the other way with them. She did do most of the hard bour, after all, while her partner stuck to the kitchen work until… he stopped. But she did enjoy cooking, anyway. It was worth it to see the smile it brought to Liam’s face.

  "So, had a good sleep?" Cir asked as she forced herself out of her thoughts, pulling up a chair to sit down before Mavik did the same.

  ”Yes, Yes,” Mavik hummed, taking some rice and smearing it on his pte. “You?”

  Cir nodded in agreement, turning her gaze away. Her mind wasn’t completely in the conversation, although the awkward silence after small talk was nothing new for them.

  She’d been thinking about that day more tely, and it was evident on her face. The same bastard she met barely a few years prior was now the new owner of the company she worked at after the former CEO suddenly passed away. She managed to keep their interactions at a minimum until then, but now he had free access to every building during work hours. And he seemed to love visiting hers.

  Sighing, she rested her chin on her hand. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about it, but what if he would’ve done something? What if she stood up to him? What if something, anything happened to her, and Mavik would just move on as if she was never there?

  But that was unlikely, if they were to break up she’d be the one to initiate it. That’s what she always told herself. She had the upper hand, but she was happy like this. She loved being with him. And even if she didn’t, it’s better for her son like this. Better for everyone.

  ”Cir,” Mavik called after a few moments, “You’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?”

  Cir blinked, not having expected to be called out for it. “A bit, yes,” she admitted, immediately putting on a smile to cheer him up. “I just feel a little weird, that’s all. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  With a nod, Mavik agreed, moving past it believing she would too. The silence returned for a few moments before he spoke up again.

  “That’s no good either. You can still make it to work today, you should save up your sick days for when we really need it.”

  “Hmm?” Cir asked, still a little distracted. “Right, I understand. I’m not sick or anything, I guess I’m just a little tired.”

  “You had plenty of time to sleep while I was in my office. It was your choice to wait.”

  That earned a small frown from her, her tone a bit hurt. “I’d rather make sure you’re home before going to sleep. Liam likes to say goodnight when you come home, I need to make sure I put him to bed and-”

  “Can’t you figure it out? You had him, he’s your responsibility.”

  An uncomfortable silence sunk after that comment, Cir shifting in her chair. She hated how he spoke like that about their son, as if he wasn’t his. As if he didn’t care about the most important person in the world to her.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden loud bang, her eyes widening when she locked eyes with the culprit.

  ”Lee! Where were you? Are you okay?” She asked, looking at her son who had just jumped down the stairs. Sure, he did so often, although he rarely got hurt.

  The boy giggled as he ran towards the table, his arms reaching up as if asking to be picked up. “I’m so hungry! Why didn’t Dad wake me up?”

  Mavik frowned down at Liam, making Cir shake her head in annoyance. She gestured for her son to come closer, saying “I’m sorry, your Dad got a little distracted. I made you some breakfast, though. How does that sound?”

  Liam nodded eagerly, happily climbing onto his mother’s p instead of taking his own seat and starting to eat from her pte, earning an amused snort.

  ”Mm.. so good..” Liam mumbled as he stuffed his face with the food, leaning back a bit into his mom who patted his head.

  As always, Cir’s attention moved to spoiling her son, not paying any mind to the way Mavik gred at the boy on her p. It was their usual arrangement, though; ever since they had Liam, he’d become colder and busier at work. Cir tried her best to distract herself from it, although it still hurt. She did her best to focus on her boy, she wanted him to have a better life than she did.

  “How is it?” She eventually asked her son, trying to shake away from the thoughts.

  Liam paused to beam up at her, exciming “I love it!” With a light ugh before stuffing his face with more food.

  ”Good, I’m gd you like it. Tell me if you want anything else, alright?” Cir told him as she picked Liam up gently, standing up herself and letting him taker her chair. “Mom has to get ready for work.”

  Liam pouted up at her. “Do you have to?” He whined dramatically.

  ”I’m sorry, Lee,” Cir said, leaning down to press a small kiss to her toddler’s forehead. “I’ll be back soon, I promise. Mavik will be taking you to kindergarten today, okay?”

  Despite huffing, Liam nodded, annoyance quickly wiping off his face as he grinned again returning to the food, starting to eat again as if nothing had happened. That earned a fond chuckle from Cir.

  She started walking away, passing by Maviks and not missing the way he was gring at their son with jealousy of the forehead kiss.

  She rolled her eyes.

  Walling upstairs, she made her way to her room to get dressed properly. She was still in her Bananawani PJ’s, and she needed to change into a proper suit. It was common decency for the women to wear chic-style casual wear at her workpce, but she was never the type for that. Masculine clothes felt more right for her, even if combined with her medium length hair and slight facial scarring caused some people to misgender her. Beats the pay gap, at least. She finished the routine by fixing her hair with an ungodly amount of gel, and after grabbing her things she was ready.

  Upon returning downstairs, she saw Mavik already getting ready with Liam and the table staying a mess. She sighed. She can deal with that ter, she needs to go to work in time.

  Their retionship wasn’t that bad over all, even if there’s often miscommunication between the two. It’s normal to be like this after having a child, surely. Even if it’s been six years.

  The moment didn’t st too long as Cir was reminded of the time and shook out of it. She quickly headed to the door, fshing her son one st smile before leaving. He waved back, but Mavik turned the boy away.

  After closing the door behind her, she slowly shook her head.

  “Mavik,” She grumbled under her breath, “He’s your son, yet you’re the one who keeps acting like a child...”

  Cir grunted after closing the door of her car behind her, looking around the parking lot for a moment. She could recognize a few cars around, as expected, all much more vish than her old Ford Fiesta. Sure, she’s happy for her co workers, even the ones she doesn’t particurly likes, but a sense of jealousy always follows her during moments like these.

  She was very interested in cars, if she could say so herself, boasting about being an expert at times. Her dream was to work in something reting to that, although the chances were very slim. Still, as she watched people enter the parking lot, there was one car that particurly caught her eye.

  It was… a pink one. The logo was covered, but if she had to guess it was a Ferrari. Very expensive, very luxurious, and with how it was painted terribly pink and had some weird feather-like fabric attached to the top making it look like a fmingo, also very fmboyant.

  She only knew about one person who would drive that kind of thing, and sadly for her, he had the power to fire her on the spot.

  As she slowly made her way over to the building, she sighed to himself silently. She knew what was waiting her; another long day of working while constantly having to babysit all of her work mates all while earning barely above minimum wage. Plus, the extra effort to avoid being spotted by the company owner wasn’t very fun.

  Although, Dandylion, or “Dyn” as he insisted everyone call him, definitely didn’t deserve to have the company to himself. Cir was pretty sure he had siblings that contribute much more to the company in a month than he did in his entire life, but his father somehow managed to leave everything to him, which was found extremely suspicious by all the workers. Not like they can say anything about it, though, as they’d be fired with NDAs shoved in their faces immediately.

  That damned brother of his, too. Dyn constantly talked about him in, belittling how he has a child and is way less successful than him instead of focusing on work during meetings. Cir always feels tempted to yell at him not to get the children involved in this, but she holds herself back. She needs this job, she really can’t afford to lose it. She needs it for Liam.

  She shook herself out of those thoughts as she entered the building, slowly making her way to her office. Most of what she did was paperwork, usually; read and summarize reports, suggestions, or anything thrown at them and forward it to the correct person. It was a small job and didn’t pay well, but she wasn't qualified for much else in an insurance company.

  At least she had her friends there, she thought while entering her office, only to be greeted by the usual scene; one of the underwriters, Bea, on her phone with her legs up on the table, and another one, Seb, yelling at her to put her legs down. Two of the examiners were sitting there ughing, while the other three sat behind them working quietly. A member of the legal team, Ben, was also there, not being part of the work team but liking to go and bother them there.

  She was greeted by Bea’s attention turning to her, giving her a small smile. “Hello, Cir,” She said, before turning her phone to face the other woman. “Taking ‘better te than never’ to another level, are we?”

  Cir narrowed her eyes at the phone for before realizing what she was being shown. It was 10 in the morning. Her shift starts at eight.

  ”Ah fuck,” she grumbled under her breath, pulling herself a seat between Bea and another employee, “I thought I left home earlier… damn it, I’m going to get written up again, aren’t I?”

  “Obviously. You can’t keep doing this. You’re gonna get yourself fired, you know,” teased Seb, another worker she was very familiar with.

  Cir leaned her head back against the uncomfortable chair, rubbing her temples in annoyance. What is she going to do now…?

  “I know, I know. I just… It's hard to leave on time. Liam needs his breakfast, and-“

  “Liam again? Geez, we really were right, you should’ve aborted him.”

  The look Cir gave to those words sent the room into an uneasy silence.

  ”Excuse you?”

  Bea rolled her eyes, acting like it was no big deal. “What? We were all thinking it. You made me lose twenty bucks, really thought I would win big.”

  Cir never wanted to punch anyone more than at that moment. This woman who she’d been working with for the past 7 years, thought it was a good idea to bet on whether or not she’d get rid of her baby? And she’s only hearing about this now?

  ”You’re fucking insane,” Was her only response. What do you even say to something like this? Sure, she didn’t mean to have a child so young, and yeah, it did put a lot on her at a young age and forced her to turn her internship here full time, but she didn’t regret even a second of it. Nothing ever could make her regret having her son after she looked at his perfect face for the first time.

  She’d raise him to be twice the person anyone in this office will ever be.

  Bea rolled her eyes, pouting at Cir as if she’s a child "Oh, you're no fun," She huffed, which earned a few chuckles along with a concerned look from Ben, the one person Cir deemed “normal” in that office.

  "No fun? No fun?” She repeated slowly, “Bethany, are you hearing yourself? You're a grown woman talking about my son as if he's some famous celebrity you want to sleep with." Cir hissed, clenching his hand into a fist.

  Bea huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "What? Don’t look at me like that. It’s only a kid. You know you would’ve been better off if you didn’t have him, you wouldn’t have married that douchbag if you didn’t. What, do you actually like having people think you’re the boy’s dad with how you look?"

  That was the final straw. “Bea,” She said, scooting her chair back to stand up. She was fairly tall, letting her tower over the other woman much more easily. “Say one more word about me or my son and the only thing that’s gonna look like a dad is your face after I fucking tear it off.”

  Finally, she got the point, her eyes widening at the realization that she was being serious. Caring only for her own butt, she leapt out of her chair, a panicked look on her face. “No, no, w-wait! I was joking!”

  She looked around for a moment, unsure what to do, before trying to hide behind one of the workers like some damsel in distress. “Ben! Oh. Ben,” She cried dramatically, running over to crouch behind his chair, “Y-You saw I didn’t do anything! Don’t let that crazy he-she next to me!”

  The man did ugh, which only cause Cir to get more ticked off, although thankfully he did shoo her away. “Chilx, she isn’t gonna do nothing. Sit back down, you still have work to do.”

  "Jeez, okay, okay, fine," She huffed, the words steering her off. She did get up and stop whining, although she did stick her tongue out at Cir like a child.

  In response to the action, Cir simply gred at her, moving her chair a bit to get as far away from her as possible before they both sat down. The silence returned, the two women gring at each other.

  It was Seb who first broke the silence, sick of it despite having ughed at the actions earlier. "Would you two knock it off already? We have work to do."

  “As if we end up working much away,” Cir muttered, her tone still implying she was bming Bea who audibly groaned in response.

  "Like hell we don't with this boss," Ben excimed, trying to shift off the conversation. "He’s always staring at us like we murdered someone. The way he dresses though… mwah, chef’s kiss.”

  "I know, right?" Bea excimed, finding yet another thing to compin about. "And he always acts so creepy, too. He's constantly hanging out around me... He probably has a thing for me."

  One of the examiners, a new guy, ughed, deciding to use the higher-ups for a quick ugh. Cir wouldn’t give him two weeks before he gets fired. "Really? Never would’ve guessed he’d be into a woman."

  Bea then smirked, shaking her head. "Oh, well, you know how I am… I could turn any man ‘normal’ again. Well, maybe except for one…" She gnced at Cir, who could feel her eye twitch at that comment. This girl really was ruthless, wasn’t she? Cir hated how hard everyone found it to just accept she was different.

  "Bea," she growled, earning a small squeak from the woman.

  "Okay, okay! I'll stop..." She muttered, waiting for just enough time before adding “Just tell me, does your kid know his mom’s a stupid dyke?”

  Cir almost kicked her chair back as she sprung up, seeing terror spread across Bea’s face. "What gives you the right to call anyone, let alone someone with a child, that word? You whiny, useless whore," She hissed, before practically lunging at her. She didn’t even give the woman a chance to respond, anger fueling her and blurring her vision. She wouldn’t let alone talk about her or her son like that. Even if it would cost her this job. She can’t let her son think that she was like that.

  "Hey! Calm down!" Seb excimed, quickly panicking as he watched Cir start chasing Bea around the cubical office, rage taking over the former’s body as she tried to grab and push her. Bea had never gotten this far with the teasing, and it was almost pitiful how mad Cir looked. Their actions erupted a ughter in the room, highlighted by Seb's screams for them to stop and Ben shaking his head at the scene.

  However, that was nothing new, as Bea always just had to find something to piss Cir off with. It didn’t take long for her to run out of breathe, now just standing there as the shorter woman tried to distance herself as much as possible.

  "Cir, I said sorry! Stop it!" Bea half-scolded half-shouted at her, but it didn’t seem to work. "Please, c'mon, Cir- Cir! Hey, stop!"

  "Bea," Cir growled, although she finally backed off. The girl was almost at the door of the rge office by then, and she was gring her down as if she was a roach she was about to step on. Actually, that wasn't far off from reality, in her eyes at least. "Don't you ever, fucking never, speak about me and my child that way. Got it!?" She nearly screamed.

  Bea’s eyes widened, and so did frankly the eyes of everyone else in the room. With how loud they were being, none of them would be surprised if their commotion could be heard all across the building, but Cir didn't care. She waited for this moment for so long to put this brat in her pce. There was nothing she hated more than spoiled idiots who thought they deserved everything. Or, well, at least if they weren’t willing to even try to fucking listen.

  "O-okay, okay!" Bea excimed, feeling as though she was backed up against a wall, although she had plenty of space behind her. "I'll stop. Please."

  Hearing the way she was pleading, Cir blinked, immediately letting out a breath and winding down. She wanted to get her to stop, not scare her.

  She took a step back. "...Fine. Just.. don't talk about my family like that."

  Bea nodded, a nervous expression still on her face, straightening herself up. "Okay, okay. I won’t. Are we good now?"

  Cir nodded, turning back to the table, seeing that most of the workers had returned to what they’ve been doing by now. She should probably do the same. "Right."

  "So you're not mad anymore?"

  "No, I'm not," Cir bit out, an obvious lie, but she just wanted to get it over with. Maybe she was too easily trusting, but she felt at fault for overreacting this much. The question did surprise her, but she brushed it off as shock. She just wanted to go back home and hug Liam. Somewhere she can rest and be happy. Somewhere she doesn’t have to spend time with her work ‘friends’. Somewhere she can do something she loves for money and-

  Bea giggled. "See you in HR for harassment, Cir!" She excimed, before running out the door.

  Cir blinked, frozen where she stood. Her jaw dropped slightly, not believing what had just happened, feeling like he was in a haze. That woman...

  She let out a long, deep groan of annoyance, putting her hands over her face. She couldn't believe what just happened her. Now she was going to have to expin this away, and of course, she’s going to be bmed. After all, who wouldn’t believe the young, beautiful, dumb bimbo, over the grumpy, lone-wolf tomboy?

  She didn't say another word, only helplessly stared at the door for a few moments.

  This was not going to be fun.

  Notes:

  I had bigger pns for Bea and Seb, but unfortunately the 9th chapter was scrapped so this is the best you’ll get.

  Name list: Seb Atth \\ Bea Jay \\ Ben Colin